Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Vacation part 2

As I mentioned in my last post, It was cloudy, rainy and cool for most of our trip. The first full day on the lake, we were all hesitant to get wet. Instead, we decided to go exploring. The last time we were on the lake, we saw a man-made tunnel high on the cliff-side that we’d never seen before.

We were probably only seeing it now because of the lower lake level. Let me take a minute and provide some damn history….

Lake Cumberland was the result of the Works Progress Administration. The Wolfe River was dammed in 1952 to create the lake. Under the lake resides the remains of communities that were uprooted and relocated to higher ground. Think the end of "O brother where art thou”. Recently, the Army Corps of Engineers noticed a damn leak. To stave off a damn failure, they lowered the level of the lake. This reduced the damn pressure exponentially—allowing the reinforcement work to take place while providing boaters summertime fun. So why all this damn background? Because the low water level led to some cloudy daytime adventures.

The tunnel we had spotted on a previous trip was once a road that connected to a bridge over the river. We anchored the boat on the side of the hill with the soft sloping bank, near where the old roadway broke the surface of the water. The previously submerged road led us up the hill, over dritfwood and through foliage that had waited 50 years to flourish.

Once upon the tunnel, the boulders stacked up in front of the entrance as if a landslide was the reason it was no longer used. It was as if the tunnel was a secret waiting a generation to be discovered.

Inside, the roadway was covered in a thick dirt and driftwood. It was eerie to explore the space that was probably a fish haven just a few years ago.

As much as it may have felt like OUR discovery, the interior walls of the tunnel told a different story with fresh names etched into the cement.

Up the sloping bank and through the tunnel was once the start of the bridge. Now, instead, the slow incline of the cement road culminated to a 50 foot drop. It was an adventure that kept us busy climbing around, scaring dad and taking pictures.

I know what you’re thinking – seriously, a whole post about a DAMN tunnel. Don’t worry sports fans, boating, skiing and FIRE to follow by Friday.

PS hope your English is good enough to catch the damn references. MIne wasn't. Husband mentioned how witty it was. Yes, sure, witty. I know how to spell DAM.